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Introduction

This is a special edition of Witteveen+Bos News which takes ‘Working With Impact’ as its theme. This is also the theme of the company’s Platinum Jubilee: 2016 is the year in which we mark the seventieth anniversary of the founding of Witteveen+Bos.

Not craters in the ground but ripples in the water

Impact is a marvellous word. It sounds strong and forceful. It speaks of consequences: action and reaction, cause and effect. Impact is a magic word. Everyone, from designers and engineers to artists, scientists and entrepreneurs, wants to have ‘impact’.

Sustainable development - The why and how

The world’s population continues to grow. There are some 7 billion people alive today. By 2050, this number will have increased to approximately 9 billion, with some two thirds projected to live in urban areas. Within 20 years, demand for food, water and energy will have

Solutions with impact

I remember the building site in Maastricht on which I began my career as an engineer. From the bottom of its seven-metre deep pit I could just see the stained glass windows of a nearby fifteenth-century church. I felt a shiver run down my spine. What if our excavations

Knowledge, authority and daring

Most professionals working in the engineering sector wish to have impact. They advise clients not because it is their job, but because they truly believe in the message they are putting across. They want to help build a better world. How do you achieve impact?

The Netherlands as a global testing ground

For Henk Ovink there can be no doubt that the Netherlands is the world authority in matters of water management, flood safety and climate change adaptation. ‘And we shall retain our leading position provided everyone, without exception, learns to work together as a close-knit

Life as a game

In our everyday lives, the occasional mistake is not a disaster. For a mountain climber, however, a mistake can be fatal. On 1 August 2008, eleven mountaineers were killed on K2. I was on the mountain that night but I survived. The accident brought me closer to the essence of

Global goals inspire value creation

Henk Nieboer does not regard himself as an idealist who has set out to change the world. Asked why he does what he does, he recalls his early childhood. ‘The little boy who makes sand banks on the beach to collect water, then lets it run back into the sea. That was me.’ Henk